Morgan Stark (Earth-616)
|relatives = Edward Stark (Father) Howard Stark (Uncle) Maria Stark (Aunt) Arno Stark (Cousin) Tony Stark (Adoptive Cousin) |eyes = Hazel |hair = Brown |height = 5'11" |weight = 175 lbs (79 kg) |features = -- |end = }} Morgan Stark is a character that appears in the Marvel Comics series entitled Iron Man. He is the foster cousin of Tony Stark, and the biological nephew of Howard and Maria Stark. History Morgan was the son of Howard Stark's brother Edward. Although both Stark brothers were entitled to a share of their father's company, Edward realized that Howard was the better businessman and ceded his share of the family business. Morgan ended up believing that Howard cheated his father out of the family business, and came to resent Tony for being the primary heir to Stark Enterprises. Despite this, Morgan grew up comfortably with the same advantages that Tony had. While Tony grew up to have issues with alcoholism and womanizing, Morgan fell victim to a different vice: gambling. Betrayal Morgan's gambling problems and generally licentious lifestyle eventually resulted in him becoming indebted to Count Nefaria. Nefaria enlisted Morgan in an elaborate plan to destroy Stark Enterprises. Equipped with a visio projector, Morgan projected images of aliens when Tony was alone. With Tony's closest associates believing he was hallucinating, his sanity came into question, and he faced the danger of losing a vital contract with the US Military. However, in an turn of events unforseen to all, two actual alien soldiers, intent on sabotaging NASA, attack Iron Man. Iron Man ends up saving Morgan in the ensuing battle, and he grudgingly exonerates Tony. Narrowly escaping Nefaria's wrath, Morgan is later seen enjoying himself on a cruise ship in international waters, but runs up some debts on the ship's casino, attracting the attention of the owner (and Nefaria's daughter), Madame Masque. Masque orders Morgan to assist her in an elaborate trap that she has set for Iron Man. Morgan arrives at Stark Enterprises, where Iron Man has been injured protecting the building from an attack by the Grey Gargole. Morgan, claiming to be there to help, drives the unconscious Iron Man to Masque's ship. Iron Man escapes, and Morgan is eventually captured by SHIELD and forced to reveal his involvement in the plot. The Beginning Of The End Because of his resemblance and relation to Tony Stark, the Greek crimelord Midas enlisted Morgan in a plot to replace Tony Stark with an impostor, who would then transfer all the company's assets to Midas. However, he was cut out of this plan when Midas acquired a Life Model Decoy. War Machine When Tony's nervous system begins to fail, he places himself in suspended animation, while letting the rest of the world believe he is dead. Morgan, allied with rival Japanese firm Moroboshi International, begins a new plot against Stark Enterprises, putting him into conflict with War Machine. Upon being cured of his condition and returning as Iron Man, Tony confronts Morgan and gives him an ultimatum: leave the country or face imprisonment. As a punishment for his failure, Moroboshi has him assassinated, with Tony believing him to be killed in a car accident. Stockpile Morgan survived his assassination attempt, but at a horrible cost; his broken body was now a bio-integrated cyborg, with limited mobility, but a mastery of cyberspace that put most of the technological world at his fingertips. He assembled a mercenary team codenamed Stockpile, and used his newfound technical abilities to take control of an armored prototype he dubbed Brass. Now a supervillain in his own right, Morgan attacked Iron Man and War Machine, but upon unmasking Iron Man, he discovered it was not the Tony Stark that he was familiar with. It was instead a teenaged Tony Stark from an alternate timeline, as the original had perished (it's complicated). The shock of seeing this impostor gave Iron Man the opening he needed to destroy Morgan's base, and Morgan appeared to perish a second time. Stark-Fujukawa Morgan later showed up, alive and human again, with the only evidence of his death and rebirth being his walking with a brass cane. He has been appointed as the manager for Stark-Fujukawa a Japanese firm that had bought out Stark Enterprises in Tony's absence. Tony decided to support the takeover, as it gave him the chance to start fresh with a smaller company, and even worked alongside Morgan to develop a new line of software, dubbed Starkware. Relishing his new role in public relations, Morgan flew a bunch of business execs and trade reporters to Isla Suerte to wine and dine them in hopes of selling them on the Starkware browser and other programs. The festivities were interrupted by the terrorist Firebrand, but timely intervention by Iron Man saved the guests. Later, Morgan came up with the idea of using the inert body of Ultimo as a floating power station, under the belief that it was a clean energy source that could indefinitely power the North American West Coast, solving the current energy crisis. As Stark warned, Ultimo awakened and terrorized the Pacific Northwest, until it is narrowly defeated by Iron Man and dismantled by SHIELD. Having witnessed the Devastator's power first hand, Morgan was not done with it. Dark Reign With Tony Stark forced on the run after Norman Osborn's machinations turn him into a social pariah, Morgan saw his chance. Impersonating Tony, he commissioned a research firm, Human Engineering Life Laboratories, to study Ultimo, as Osborn was interested in weaponizing it. Morgan learned that Ultimo's true state was actually a liquid metal, and this liquid form housed an insidious virus that turned anything it came into contact with into a silicon based form. Morgan betrayed Osborn, ingesting this liquid himself, hoping it would turn him into a physical god. Instead, Morgan simply got absorbed by the reborn Ultimo, serving as its mouthpiece as it began a campaign to destroy humanity. A team led by War Machine was able to pacify Ultimo and restore Morgan to his human form. Last seen fleeing the site of the battle with War Machine's pit crew, his subsequent wherabouts are unknown. Notes Trivia Gallery References External Links Category:Iron Man Comics Universe Category:Iron Man Characters Category:Comic Characters Category:Male Comic Characters